Photos via Library of Congress.
On November 3, 1913, eight steers broke through a gate in stockyards near West 60th street, setting off a wild chase that claimed the life of a night watchman and at least one of the animals too.
The steers were being unloaded around 4 a.m. from a train that had come in from Oregon and stopped at a station near 60th street and the Hudson River, according to the New York Times. At the time, the area around 60th on the West side was filled with warehouses and stockyards. The steers had been “consigned to various butchers in the city.”
But the animals were not calmly playing along. Eight of the steers broke through a gate that had not been securely fastened and were off to the races, bolting through the streets of the city.
One ended up turning East to 5th avenue, and nearly ran over a policeman who tried to stop it at 59th and 5th. He and some fellow officers commandeered taxicabs and chased the animal up 5th, shooting out the window. They hit the animal, but also shot a waiter who had gone outside to see what all the fuss was about. And a night watchman who was bringing in some lamps to make sure they didn’t get damaged ended up getting shot in the eye and dying. The animal eventually was shot to death on Madison.
Another steer made it to 80th and Central Park West, not far from the Museum of Natural History. It slammed into a delivery wagon from a store called Bauchman’s at 729 Columbus Avenue near 96th street (now occupied by a postwar building with a Subway sandwich shop) and trampled a police officer. Another officer, however, got ahold of the bull: “Holmes, a giant in stature, calmly walked up to the beast, gripped his nostrils with his right hand thereby shutting off his wind, and with a jiujitsu twist of one of the horns, toppled the 1,200 pound steer on its side,” the Times reported.
The other steers were shot or lassoed by policemen. The chase wasn’t over until about 9 a.m. that morning.
Sad to see animals wanting to be free getting killed. It reminds me of the shooting of escaped slaves in America. When in their evolution did humans become so violent and murderous toward their fellow creatures? what has this gotten us?
I agree …..truly a sad story……They wanted to be Free…..
What a horrifying little story! Two differences, and non-differences, between then and now:
1. In 1913, steers were being brought to Manhattan, and slaughtered here, to be sold to Manhattan consumers. I wonder when that practice ended? We animal-protection promoters like to think that if the slaughter of animals were made more present and visible to meat-eaters, there would be fewer meat-eaters, which would be a good thing. And to some extent perhaps we’re right. But the nearness of the act of slaughter plainly did not affect the carnivores of 1913 NYC very much, did it.
2. The NYPD no longer impress civilian vehicles into service; and they seem to want to avoid shooting innocent bystanders. (I wonder if the family of that unfortunate night watchman sued; and if so, if they won.) As for the “Shoot first, ask questions later” mentality, perhaps that has been brought down a notch …